HAMILTON, Ontario, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Cancer survival rates for patients 15 to 29 years old are dismal compared to those for youngsters and older adults, says a Canadian researcher.
"While there have been improvements in survival in children and older adults in recent decades there has been no such improvement in this age group in the past 25 years or so," said Dr. Ronald Barr of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University and McMaster Children's Hospital.
Barr says there are a variety of reasons why the outlook is so poor for this particular age group. Few are participating in clinical trials -- organized studies that test the value of various treatments -- such as drugs or surgery in human beings. This lack of involvement correlates directly with their poor survival rates, he said.
Young people's feelings of invincibility, coupled with a lack of awareness about their cancer risk, are other factors. In addition, family physicians aren't often suspicious enough of teenagers' symptoms, interpreting a lump in the neck as an infection or leg pain as an athletic injury or growing pains, which delays an accurate cancer diagnosis.
